Nostalgia & History > SP Bay Window Question

I don't know what year SP began using the bay window caboose, but I've always been curious as to why they abandoned the cupola cabooses. AT&SF stayed with the cupola, and U.P. seemed to like them enough to keep them around. I always wondered about S.P. Can anyone here fill us in? Thanks in advance.

SP's first bay window cabooses were built in 1947. Not sure the official explanation for SP discontinuing their cupola-design but I suspect it was for the standard reasons that other RRs used: 1) the height of post-war cars were begining to exceed the height of the cupola and 2) to reduce the number injuries from falling.

I was told the injury rate was the reason. Most of the main line cupolas went to local service where speed and slack wasn't a problem. Then they started to scrap them because of parts and age.


Nudge

Look what happened to "Cracker" in a cupola caboose in Emperor of the North? Poor bastage! (He got thrown and broke his neck basically)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/15/11 16:20 by the_expediter.

whistlepig Wrote:
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> ... and U.P. seemed to like them enough to keep them around. ...

Don't forget but even UP started buying bay window cabooses toward the end of the "caboose era".



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/15/11 16:58 by Railbaron.

A great illustration of this can be seen in the movie Emperor Of The North Pole where the train (filmed on the late, great OP&E) goes into emergency and the brakeman in the cupola is killed when he gets knocked forward then falls to the caboose floor.

Of course, most trains didn't have a psycho conductor on the payroll either.

rattenne Wrote:
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> A great illustration of this can be seen in the
> movie Emperor Of The North Pole where the train
> (filmed on the late, great OP&E) goes into
> emergency and the brakeman in the cupola is killed
> when he gets knocked forward then falls to the
> caboose floor.
>
> Of course, most trains didn't have a psycho
> conductor on the payroll either.

Some of them do!-BMT

rattenne Wrote:
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> A great illustration of this can be seen in the
> movie Emperor Of The North Pole where the train
> (filmed on the late, great OP&E) goes into
> emergency and the brakeman in the cupola is killed
> when he gets knocked forward then falls to the
> caboose floor.
>
> Of course, most trains didn't have a psycho
> conductor on the payroll either.


Years ago when I worked at Gemco on locals.. every job had a "psycho" on it !

Probably a reason buried somewhere in the files,but Rock Island also had cupola cabooses, and went to bay window types on all their new cabooses. The Mopac only had a few ex C&EI bay window types until 1976, when the first new bay window types came along. One reason I heard years ago from a source long since forgo ten, is that it was a lot safer to grab train orders from the bay window; than from holding on for dear life on the back platform steps; something I can personally atest too. Fixed train order stands were set up so the rear end crew could get their order from the bay window.

I can't recall ever seeing a Bay Window UP caboose.
In the early 1970,s when the SP entered into a run Through agreement with the UP from North Platte to Roseville the cabs the UP furnished were all copula, yellow with a large white "P" on the cupola.
Also the SP train crews at Roseville and Ogden refused to accept the UP cabooses unless they had the proper number of "Knee Rolls" on board.

Didn't look like SP bay window cabooses. UP's started showing up in 1979 and had a large "P" on the side, IIRC.

WAF Wrote:
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> Didn't look like SP bay window cabooses. UP's
> started showing up in 1979 and had a large "P" on
> the side, IIRC.

Still don't recall seeing a UP bay window caboose.
What did the "P" mean and what was a "Knee Roll"?
And what was meant by a "Parlor" caboose?

A passenger car used in a mixed train? A former Wabash conductor friend of mine said they sorely missed the "combo" they used on the local when the train was abolished and a caboose took over. He said with its 6-wheel trucks, it rode like a Cadillac.

JLY Wrote:
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> And what was meant by a "Parlor" caboose?

"P" meant pool caboose